Led by Tampa Bay Derby winner Watch Me Go and Swift Warrior, winner of the Rushaway Stakes last Saturday at Turfway Park, a total of 13 horses have been made late nominees to the Triple Crown, it was announced Wednesday by Churchill Downs, home of the first leg of the Triple Crown, the May 7 Kentucky Derby.

Jockey Calvin Borel has won the Kentucky Derby three of the last four years. Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer scored his third win in the Kentucky Oaks last year and also won a Breeders’ Cup race. Those recent successes, combined with their previous years of excellence, propelled both men onto the final ballot for this year’s National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame, the Hall announced on Wednesday.

The National Museum of Racing on Wednesday announced the slate of 2011 finalists for election to the Hall of Fame. Among the candidates are jockeys Calvin Borel, Garrett Gomez, and John Velazquez and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, all first-time nominees. Also on the ballot are trainers Gary Jones and Bob Wheeler, jockey Alex Solis, and the mares Open Mind, Safely Kept, and Sky Beauty, all of whom have previously been finalists.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The challenge trainer Larry Jones faces with the talented 3-year-old Commander might be better understood by women handicappers than their male counterparts. Basically, the striking horse could be likened to a good-looking guy who is not particularly ambitious.

“He’s out for social activity,” Jones said of Commander. “He goes out, hangs with his buddies, you know, finds somebody in [the race] he likes to run around with, and that’s the attitude he has.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – Vic Stauffer, the track announcer at Hollywood Park, will work as a steward at four tracks on the California fair circuit later this year, he said on Tuesday.

Stauffer, 51, will continue his work at Hollywood Park and will be a steward at the Sonoma county fair in Santa Rosa in late July and early August, the Humboldt county fair in Ferndale in August, the Los Angeles county fair at Fairplex Park in Pomona in September and the Big Fresno fair in October.

“I think I can do a good job, but it is uncharted territory,” he said. “I’ll do the best I can.”

Joes Blazing Aaron, wire-to-wire winner of the Grade 3 Palm Beach Stakes on the Gulfstream Park turf in his last start, has been moved into the barn of trainer Mike Maker and will try to move into the Kentucky Derby picture by running next in the $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes on Polytrack at Keeneland.

KENTUCKY DERBY NEWS: Track all the 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail

NEW ORLEANS – Increasingly, as the May 7 Kentucky Derby nears, earnings in graded stakes races will become a focal point of attention, and that critical factor got ratcheted up several notches this past weekend, when Pants On Fire, Twice the Appeal, Animal Kingdom, Decisive Moment, and Master of Hounds – none of whom were near the top of anyone’s list of Derby contenders – all likely made enough money to put them in the field.

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Video provided by Rebecca Coa

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jockey Eibar Coa has begun taking the first steps on the road to what he is hoping will be a complete recovery from injuries suffered in a spill at Gulfstream Park at Feb. 18 that originally left him paralyzed throughout most of his body.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Seeking to inject new life into the Sovereign Awards, the Jockey Club of Canada has thrown a changeup into the annual gala for the second consecutive season.

After replacing the traditional formal format with a more casual affair at a downtown Toronto nightclub in January of 2010, the organization went back to the drawing board and will hold the 36th annual awards gala here at Woodbine Racetrack on Friday evening.

Breeders’ Cup Ltd. has hired a company to conduct its search for a new chief executive, the organization announced on Monday.

The search will be managed by Spencer Stuart, a sports-business firm that had also been hired by Breeders’ Cup six years ago following the retirement of its previous chief executive. At the conclusion of that process, Spencer Stuart recommended the organization hire its existing interim chief executive, Greg Avioli, who resigned early this month.